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Record: Lightning (5-4-2) Hurricanes (4-4-3)

Previous games: October 7 - Lightning 5, Hurricanes 1

Game time: 7:00pm EDT on SUN (HD)

After a close game on the weekend, the Lightning are on the road for just one game against the Hurricanes tonight. It all started out so well for the Lightning when we opened the season in Raleigh on October 7th winning 5 to 1...and then our slide happened. But we are back to winning some games, so we're back on the upswing. The Hurricanes on the other hand has dropped the last 4 of 5 games.

Hedman and Brewer would probably laugh at the tough assignments that have been doled out to Allen and Gleason because those two have seen even tougher competition if you can believe it. Less than 30% of their shifts have started in the offensive zone. What's unbelievable is Hedman is somehow blowing away his competition in Corsi despite that. Maybe this is the year he begins to be recognized as one of the top defensemen in the league? The team is shooting 12.75% with him on the ice but he's certainly not getting any help in terms of save percentage. Also, Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in points. What.

Really thrilled to hear that he'll be staying with the Lightning. But this is just the first hurdle for him, as now he faces 73 more games of this night in an night out. Still, this is huge for Connolly. It shows how his hard work and determination to remain with the club is paying off.

As for tonight

Mathieu Garon is on a 3 game win streak, tonight making his third consecutive start with 36 saves

I love it. I really, really do. Especially all the awkward takes from certain players. Though, how many takes do you think Boucher took to shoot his part? I imagine him laughing and re-starting multiple times.
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During the Lightning/Buffalo game on Saturday that I wasn't able to catch because of GameCenter being down, I ended up watching HNIC while cursing GCL. In the hotstove segment, Oren Koules' name came up. Relax, it has nothing to do with the Lightning but rather with the St. Louis Blues. I can't embed the video so go here to view it on the CBC website (start at the 4 minute mark).

Basically Elliote Friedman said that Oren Koules is part of the management group that is led by Matthew Hulsizer who is looking to buy the St. Louis Blues, so we might see a return of Koules to the NHL earlier than you would have expected. You might remember Hulsizer from when his was looking in to buying the Coyotes, but now his sights are on the Blues. On October 5 2011, TSN reported that a non-binding term sheet was drafted though no date has been set on when an actual sale will take place.

It seems Oren Koules wasn't burned by the mess that happened with the Lightning, that he still wants to be back in as an owner. For the good of the NHL and for St. Louis, I hope he has learned from his previous mistake.no comments

Some days GameCenter just doesn't want to make things easy. So today's recap is brought to you by the complete fail of NHL GameCenter today. Didn't watch any of the game in real time, and since I had twitter on, the score was ruined for me by the time I got around to watching it.

To start off the night the Lightning showed off their now toy during the pre-game:

That should be enough for the preview for tonight's game, no? So there will be Tesla coils for at least the pre-game tonight.

So as the stats show, the Sabres have been good so far. They beat up Pacific division teams in Europe and have been trucking along with Miller standing on top of his head the other night. Tonight is the first in a home and home that we'll play against Buffalo. The Lightning had a good game the other night against the Islanders and need to bring that focus tonight. They've only won one game in a string of really crappy play.

Look out for Connolly tonight as it is game #8 for him, the clock is ticking on whether he stays for the season.

@TBLightning tweeted out a photo of Roloson's new 3rd jersey mask. Strange that they would do it before a game that Garon is starting, but my initial though on it was that it is simple. The bolt on the top looks huge and a bit weird, but maybe I need to see this during an actual game to decide. Thoughts on it?

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